TORSTAR CORP. $4.12(Toronto symbol TS.B; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 80.3 million; Market cap: $330.8 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; Dividend yield: 12.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.torstar.com) has purchased 56% of VerticalScope, a private firm that operates over 600 online forums and a variety of websites, including AutoGuide.com, Motorcycle.com, ATV.com and PetGuide.com. This purchase should help Torstar offset slowing advertising revenue at its newspapers as advertisers shift their spending to the Internet.
< p>The company paid $200 million, but VerticalScope plans to pay a distribution to its shareholders later this year. That would cut Torstar’s purchase price to $178 million.
Meantime, Torstar recently launched a digital version of The Toronto Star, its flagship newspaper, for tablet computers. In addition to newspaper content, this free app, called Star Touch, gives users quick access to related information like photos, maps and videos.
< p>The company spent $13 million to $15 million to set up Star Touch, and maintaining and updating it will cost a further $8 million to $9 million this year.
< p>These outlays, combined with weak ad revenue, could force Torstar to cut its dividend; due to its depressed share price, the annual rate of $0.525 a share now yields a high 12.7%. However, it’s unlikely that the company would eliminate the dividend entirely.
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